Titanium ring conceals saw and handcuff opener

Over at the Boing Boing G+ Community, JollyOrc posted this useful tool: a ring that conceals a saw and a handcuff shim

A useful tool for covert and undercover operators, those that travel abroad in unstable countries, or anyone at risk of being held unlawfully.

The Titanium Escape Ring adds another tool to the operator's E&E options for escaping captivity. It's a simple but elegant-looking ring made of titanium, cut from solid barstock and polished to a mirror finish. But unlike all other rings, this one contains a saw and handcuff shim pick combination tool which is completely hidden from view when worn.

Located on a finger, its always in the exact area needed to quickly access and deploy, even when handcuffed. The shim can be used to open single-locked handcuffs, while the saw can cut zip-ties, disposable handcuffs, duct tape, rope, and other non-metallic materials.

Titanium Escape Ring $80

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Grahamers2002

Great! Another thing I have a 99.999999% probability of never ever needing… but that I want to the core of my being.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  It almost makes you happy to be arrested!
  - Promethean Sky
    
    I promise you, if you’re going to slip out of cuffs, you DO NOT want to get caught doing it. Personal experience…
    - Petzl
      
      MacGyver just shakes his head with sad disbelief at this person.
http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai

The lockpick seems awesome but that saw…I wouldn’t really feel comfortable with that against my finger, I’d just keep imagining, well, my finger getting sawn!
Isaac Marx

Better hope your finger doesn’t slip when you’re putting it on.
Jonathan Roberts

Not to be a concern troll, but there are not many situations in unstable countries (presumably with unstable cops) where trying to saw through your handcuffs would be likely to improve matters. All I’m saying is that I hope the rest of your escape plan is really good.
- ryuthrowsstuff
  
  I doubt the saw is even intended to cut through the cuffs. Its got a handcuff shim in it though (or does the saw act as a shim?). Those work by slipping between the shackle and housing to release the latch and open the cuff. That said almost all hand cuffs worth a shit are guarded against shims (and also hardened to prevent easy sawing). If you’ve ever seen a decent pair of cuffs like law enforcement up close you’ll notice the key has a small extended pin on the back. This goes into a small hole on the body of the cuff to engage an equally small button. It locks to shackle in place for 2 reasons: 1 keep it from moving/tightening any further to prevent injury. 2 preventing the shackle from being opened with a shim. Apparently works pretty good, and and its a common feature approach. But there are more rigorous ways to prevent shim use though.
  
  So basically these things are for party tricks/escapology.
  - Teufelaffe
    
    The saw is for zip cuffs, not metal.
    - Daemonworks
      
      Also tape, rope, silk handkerchiefs…
    - Jerril
      
      For amusement value and my RPG characters, would it be any good for sawing through cell bars?
      - Dan Dahl
        
        Probably not. The saw is most likely too short to do enough cutting before becoming dull. It would do well to injure a possible NPC cell mate forcing the guards to have to enter the cell allowing your possible escape.
- http://www.facebook.com/larratt Shannon Larratt
  
  In any case, I’d suggest this is a more of an art project than a serious tool.
  - ryuthrowsstuff
    
    I hardly think its serious in any way, but it could be legitimately useful as far as performance escapes go. Depending on how practical it is for real use.
http://twitter.com/GideonTJones Gideon Jones

A wedding ring for men with tactical pens, and everyday carry kits, and bug out bags, and knife collections, and assault rifles, and concealed carry permits, and matte black hatchets, and shovels with titanium spikes & blades on the end for zombie killing on the way to their cubicles.
- Jonathan Roberts
  
  You forgot the Google Glass.
  - http://twitter.com/GideonTJones Gideon Jones
    
    Yes, yes I did. Gadgets as markers for masculinity. Make sure you carry the right ones, or people will think you’re a girl or something.
    - Boundegar
      
      Clearly you have never been married.
  - teknocholer
    
    And the flashlight.
    
    http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/worst_case_shopping.png
- http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
  
  Saki had a wonderful short story on this phenomenon:
  The Mappined Life.
  
  “That is where our superior powers of self-deception come in,” said the niece; “we are able to live our unreal, stupid little lives on our particular Mappin terrace, and persuade ourselves that we really are untrammelled men and women leading a reasonable existence in a reasonable sphere.”
  - peregrinus
    
    Proof again that humans are the top of the pyramid. Dogs can’t do that.
- UnderachievingSheep
  
  What?! no GPS tracker to lead the rescue operation?! Amateur…
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  From the Dwight Schrute collection
- phuzz
  
  I used to have one of those Utili-keys (looks like a key, opens up to reveal a blade and screwdrivers etc.) and I found myself using it every few days.
  A Phillips screwdriver and a small knife come in handy all the time.
- Daemonworks
  
  And women. The person I know with most of the above is female. She has a tactical corset too.
Waltb555

Thanks for telling everyone about this. Now, the next time I’m on a covert op and I get caught, the first thing they’ll do is take my escape ring!
- Bradley Robinson
  
  Was going to say something similar.
  
  Nothing like posting your escape tactics for all to see.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  At least they could make it flesh colored to make it less noticeable
KevinRaposo

This is perfect! I’ll be sure to get one of these bad larrys for my next espionage expedition!
orwell

i think a mini manicure set would be more useful, considering the state of the thumb and nail in that photo…
http://www.facebook.com/DemiDeciDan Daniel Sobol

Now why can’t it be in a real size? If I’m lucky it will fit my left and smaller pinky!
http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

“. . .while the saw can cut zip-ties, disposable handcuffs, duct tape, rope, and your finger every time you slip it on and off.”
http://avarana.blogspot.com MarlboroTestMonkey7

Mental note: take away all prisioner jewelry, painfully if possible.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  LAPD?
Brainspore

A wedding ring that helps you ESCAPE a ball and chain? Novel!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Duanburge/100000313244887 Mark Duanburge

My regular wedding ring makes me feel so emasculated.
technogeekagain

Well, as James Bond fantasies go, this isn’t completely unreasonably priced or entirely poorly thought-out. (At least it’s well enough designed to look plausible, if one ignores the difficulty of manipulating a blade under those conditions and the fact that many cuffs these days have a mechanism that can be engaged to prevent shimming.)
- http://avarana.blogspot.com MarlboroTestMonkey7
  
  Obviously that makes you ..hmmm…000
- http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Agenbroad/100002463876063 James Agenbroad
  
  ..and the current practice of handcuffing people palms-out, which makes getting to the locking mechanism more difficult.
- Brainspore
  
  Apparently real spies don’t get cool gizmos like this anymore, mostly because getting caught with them makes it a lot harder to deny that you are a spy.
itsgene

TSA ban on all jewelry in 3… 2… 1…
James Penrose

” the first thing they’ll do is take my escape ring!”

Contrary to television and novels, the first thing *any* smart guard should be doing is removing *everything* you are carrying or wearing all the way down to hairclips, nose rings, tampons and any other hardware strewn about your body. Clothes too, all of them, down to underwear and issuing you only the most basic items needed for “decency” and those should be flimsy, on the order of a paper hospital gown so they can’t be easily used as a garrotte or climbing rope and unsuitable for normal wear so you’ll stand out a mile away if you do escape as no normal person would be caught dead in that get up.

Be thorough or or don’t bother.

Quick and dirty? Make them take off one shoe or boot. Try running in *that* combination.
cellocgw

Cue the TSA removing everyone’s wedding bands…
Thebes42

I would guess that there are very few single-lock handcuffs in actual use.
Most are double locking.
Jesse in Japan

Unlawful arrest sucks and all, but getting shot for trying to escape probably sucks more…